Flight to Freedom
by EndingDream6560
Summary: Four young experiments from the University believe themselves to be sold to a foreign country far away. What they don't know is that their lives will be drastically changed as their cargo ship is hijacked by agents of SHIELD, a secret service that was thought to be just a myth to get their hopes up.
1. Chapter 1: New Friends

Hello there! This is EndingDream6560, and this is the first story I've published, so I encourage constructive criticism and I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I only wished I owned Maximum Ride or the Avengers. Sadly, I only own my Ocs.

* * *

Day: 1498

Today is a Thursday, I think. I'm never sure about what day it is. They've all started running together it gets too confusing.

Anyway, today, the white coats took me, Ivy, and two other experiments outside. We don't get to see sunlight often, so when we do, it stings my eyes. I hiss against the sunlight as I fight against my bonds. Behind me, I can hear the large, double doors of the complex closing again, leaving nothing between me and the barren desert.

Nothing except the chains circling my feet.

There were two others out here with me and Ivy too. The closest to me was a tall, lanky boy with shaggy blonde hair that stood out against his mildly tanned skin. Peeking out above his ash-blond hair, were two large white ears, like a bat.

I realized I was right when I noticed two, bat like white wings coming from his back. His eyes were closed, and I found myself wondering what color eyes hid behind the long lashes.

The other figure chained to him was someone in a dark blue cloak, its face hidden by the large hood, and long dark hair flowing out of it.

I felt a tug on my right. Turning, I met two light green eyes looking back at me. "Hey, we're not alone-"

"Obviously!" I hissed.

Ivy shook her head, her dark brown hair waving like a mop. "No I mean there are people over there." She pointed a chocolate finger to behind me, past the fence not even 5 yards away from the cloaked figure, stood six people I had never seen before, and one of the white coats.

While the white coat was conversing with a brown haired man with thin rimmed glasses, I observed the others in my sight. Beside the glasses one, stood another brown haired man, this one without glasses, but I could see a glowing blue light peeking behind his thin shirt. 'Odd.'

Next was a man who looked like he wasn't any older than an average college intern. But I could see years of wisdom and strength in his eyes and stature. Anyway, He was so buff in comparison to the blond-brown haired man on his right.

This guy had a full black suit, sleeveless, I guess to accommodate for the scorching weather of the desert. He wore dark sunglasses and only I could see the blue eyes hiding behind them. He was standing suspiciously close to the only woman in the group, her scarlet hair flashing against the rising sun.

I leaned over to Ivy. "Who are they? What are they doing here?" She glanced back at me, green eyes flashing with intelligence. "Not sure, they could be looking for 'weapons' like those Georgians were."

A while back, like a long time, there were a group of people, about three or four, that came here and observed us for a few days. We didn't know what they wanted, but eventually Ivy found out and told us.

So we worked on our worst behavior. Yes, we want to get out of here. No, we don't want to be separated from our 'family'.

The foreigners left in disgust of our odd habits and the white coats were furious. Especially Dr. Anarchy, but all he did was lecture us on "our purpose in this lab." Like any of us care.

"Have the Georgians asked for a second chance?" I asked. Ivy kept her gaze on the white coat talking though out all of this. "No, they're American. Can't you smell the freedom on them?" She joked.

I've never been to America before. Actually, I have lived here, in Malaysia for most of my life. I was born in Spain. But that is really all that I know about myself. I don't even know my real name. None of us do. So I came up with a name myself.

Firefly.

Topaz told me that it's the name of a flying bug. She said it suited me for two reasons. One is that I can fly, hence the light tan wings attached to my back. You'll find out the other reason later.

Back to the story at hand;

The white coat finally stopped talking and walked back over to us, stopping in front of me. He gave a sadistic smile. "You're up, bird-girl-""Don't call me that!" I snapped. Only this "doctor" knew how to get on my nerves. "- time to fly." He unlocked the chain from my leg, but not before snapping a suppressing bracelet over one of the silver gauntlets that I wear.

As soon as he let go, I skyrocketed to the clouds above me. I hovered just above the top of the chicken wire fence and almost smirked at the astounded looks on the man with glasses and the blue eyed buff one. The others seemed to keep their cool.

I raced along the borders of the fence, feeling closer to freedom than I had in months. This up here, the sky, the wind in my face, chasing the sun and moon, this is my true home. Where I feel safest.

Finally the suppressor starts to take effect, and I begin to feel dizzy, like a child after running in circles for a long time. My wing movements get sloppy and slow, and I gracefully lose altitude again. Landing, just barely on my feet, I'm quickly herded back to Ivy and the others and the chain is reattached.

Ivy is up next. Ivy has a special power. Really a few. She is the smartest out of all of us and has managed to outsmart countless white coats. She can tell what ethnicity and nationality a person is just by looking at them. She tells each of their family blood lines, but seems to falter on two of them. Glasses and Buffy.

After she has proven herself, the other flyer is next. He takes off much like I did, white bat wings stretched out on each side of him. His movements are graceful, though he looks nervous. I can finally see his eyes from behind his long gray hair. They're silver. Figures.

He starts to lose altitude, the effects of the bracelet no doubt beseeching him. He lands awkwardly on his legs and falls to his knees, breathing heavily. The white coat turns to the visitors.

"As you can see, Experiment 201, the one with the bird wings, has the same DNA with that of a peregrine falcon. At an average, the peregrine falcon can fly at about 65 mph, but with improved body structure, 201 can go an average of 105 mph. She is our fastest experiment in the air. What do you think Dr. Banner?" Keep in mind that we are in Tajikistan, a Persian dialect country. So I was surprised that he was able to answer back in the same language.

"She seems fit. What about the more intelligent one?" He seemed a bit nervous speaking, or being here in general, though his comrades seemed fine. The white coat- Professor Narfeti, by his name-tag- Began to explain about Ivy.

"Experiment 323 is our smartest experiment, with an IQ exceeding well over 180. She has an ability to examine anyone's family bloodline just by one good look and is Omni-linguistic." "Ivy," I whispered, "What does omnee-, Omni- lin-"I couldn't pronounce it.

"Omni-linguistic?" I nodded. "It basically means I can understand any language and dialect." She stared on. I listened on to them discussing the bat-boy.

"219 is an experiment from out 'night creatures' line. It was a group of experiments to see what would happen if a nocturnal animal and a non-nocturnal creature could reside in the same DNA scheme." Narfeti claimed.

"And did it work?" That was the first time the red haired woman spoke up. Narfeti frowned. "No, 219 is just as day bound as before." I decided to find out a little more about the bat boy myself.

Moving slowly, I shuffled my way around Ivy to stand next to the boy. "Hi," I whispered so as not to attract attention. "I'm Firefly, what about you?" I looked at him.

The boy's head dropped and his hair once again covered his odd colored eyes. "N-no one's ever asked for my name in a long time. I've forgotten it." "What do your friends call you?" "I-I haven't got any." He shuddered.

"You mean out of your entire sector, you haven't got any friends?" "I'm the only one in my sector, other than her." He pointed beside him, to the cloaked figure.

I was shocked. In our sector, we all considered each other family. Me and Ivy, Topaz, King, and the others were all we had. I couldn't imagine being alone all the time. I got a little idea.

"I'll be your friend." His head snapped up and he looked at me with a shocked expression. I guess no one's ever said that to him before. "Really?" He looked so hopeful.

I fixed him with one of my genuine smiles. "Really. Now what shall we call you?" I thought for a second, glancing over him. He was tall and lanky, with ratty old jeans and a- probably- once white shirt. His white wings were folded against his bony back. "How about… Shuffle?" It seemed a suitable name for him.

Shuffle seemed to think so. "Shuffle, I'm Shuffle." He tried it out. "I like it. Thank you Firefly." He gave me a small smile.

"… Glad to do business with you all. I expect someone to be here tomorrow for pick up and handling?" Narfeti wrapped up his discussion.

'_What? Pick-up?'_ I scooted back toward Ivy so she could fill me in.

"They are apparently from some weapons company in Romania. They just bought all of us and by sun high tomorrow, we'll be on a cargo plane to no-man's land." Ivy poured out the information that I missed.

"All of us?" I asked hopefully. I would hate to leave my friends behind to go on an adventure. I would probably get to fly to all sorts of places, but I can't leave my family behind stuck in cages.

Ivy sighed. "No, just you, me, Bat Boy over there-," "Shuffle." "-fine, Shuffle, and the hooded girl over there. Speaking of, she never was explained nor did she demonstrate her powers." We both looked over to the person in question.

Besides the long, dark hair spilling out of the hood, there was almost no way to find out that there was even a living thing hidden behind the cloth.

* * *

We were herded back through the University doors, into the long expanse of hallway once again. After telling the others about the strange people and the new arrangements, it was up for discussion. Meaning everyone was shouting at each other.

"Absurd! You can't leave us. We're family!" Moonah screeched out the loudest. She was part howler monkey, after all.

Snowflower was trying to make the best of the situation. "Well, you'll come back and find a way to free us too, right?" She looked up at Ivy, a cage across from her, with pleading pale blue eyes. Ivy shrugged. "It depends on what they plan on doing with us."

Leo asked in a rumbling voice, "What are we going to do without you guys? Who's gonna be there for us when we finish training every day?"

I decided to speak up. "C'mon guys, you've still got King and Topaz to account for. Speaking of, where are they?" Moonah answered my question. "They should still be in training. Hmph, they have the longest sessions out of all of us!" She shook her head, golden strands waving wildly about her face.

At that moment, the sliding doors of the warehouse we were in creaked open and the two in question stepped in. Topaz was covered in dust, dimming the shine of her cinnamon skin tone. Her choppy black hair was caked in even more dirt. King was another story.

Our fearless leader was as clean and flawless as he had been this morning. His hair, shoulder length locks of light brown, was fine and fair, fitting perfectly with his tall, spotted serval- cat ears and thin tail trailing behind obediently.

Without a sound, the two were put in their respective cages- Topaz above Ivy, across from mine, and King two cages over from me- and their handlers left without so much as a glance at the others.

With the white coats gone, King turned to Snowflower, his sister, and started asking the usual questions. Oh, let chaos ensue in…

"Is everyone accounted for?"

"Yes, all 22." _3._

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No, everyone is okay." _2._

"Is there any news?"

"Ivy and Firefly were sold to Romanians." _1._

"WHAT?!" King screeched, waking up anyone who attempted to take a nap, me included. The serval- hybrid jumped up and started pacing around his cage. "What right do they have to separate us? To sell you to ROMANIA?!" He was fuming.

"They have no right to lock us up in cages and use at lab rats, but they do anyway." I put in my input. King stopped pacing and stared at me. Oh, gosh. I shouldn't have said that. I hate it when he looks at me with those icy blue eyes, and I bet that everyone else does too. We're just afraid to admit it.

I looked away quickly. "Firefly, we mustn't fall into their temptations that they hold to our faces. We must resist or we'll end up in deep trouble." He said to me.

"What does that have to do with anything?" I snapped at him. God, I hated it so much when he changes subject so quickly. "Your scent implies that you've been near a bat." What? Sometimes I think he speaks just to hear himself talk…

Oh. 'Bat.' Shuffle. I should have thought about that. I never did find out what sector he was from. We aren't supposed to mingle with other sectors of experiments. It apparently "stains them with our scrambled DNA." King doesn't want us lingering with other sectors during training sessions, though I never knew why, and I didn't have the guts to ask.

I shifted, suddenly uncomfortable with my position. Everyone was staring at me by now. "T-there was another flyer, like me. I- um," Ivy saved me before I could make a fool of myself.

"Oh!" She faked surprise, "Wasn't that the bat boy that got tangled in your chains as he walked by?" Her sharp green eyes locked with mine in feigned bewilderment. "He was quite the clumsy one, wasn't he? Tripping over you, causing you both to fall."

"Yeah, that was him. Poor guy had no sense of balance." I wrapped up the lie perfectly. "Ahm, I'm gonna get some sleep. We've apparently got a long day tomorrow. *yawn* Okay, well good night!" I flipped on to my back and curled into a ball, ready for exhaustion to overtake me.


	2. Chapter 2: Ships and Suprises

_The wind brushed against my wings as I glided away from the horrid place I was forced to live in for most of my life. My wings glinted from the golden flecks embedded in them. I flew over the river, feeling as free as the flowing water running through the lands of the snow- capped mountains. _

_This is where I belong, among the clouds, chasing the challenging sun, its bright rays, coaxing me closer to its warmth._

_Flipping and turning, I noticed on the ground, three little dots. I lost altitude as I angled my wings to get a closer look of the three. It was Ivy and Shuffle, and the cloaked figure from… where again? Who knows? _

_I was getting close enough to land when something shot through the air and buzzed past my ear. Narrowly missing, I turned in the air to get a batter look at the object. As soon as I turned, white hot pain shot through my left wing and I fell straight down._

_Through my pain, I glanced at the thing that was lodged in my wing. An arrow._

Day 1499

I woke up in a cold sweat, jumping to my feet on the floor of the metal cage. I looked around, taking in everything around me.

I wasn't flying away from the University. I was still in it. I wasn't surrounded by an endless mountain range. I was surrounded by bars. The sun couldn't find me in my tiny cage, underneath three others just like it. Crawling to a corner of the oversized dog cage, I sat down and put my arms over my legs.

Remember when I said they call me Firefly for two reasons? Well here's the second.

I cupped my hands together and closed my eyes. I thought about the little happiness I had in my life. I thought about Ivy, and Snowflower and Topaz. I thought about my wings and I thought about Shuffle, the new friend I made yesterday. I thought about all of the little things that made me happy, and something happened.

A little ball of light started to glow in my cupped hands. It was small, only about the size of a spoon's curve, but it was mine, and that's all that mattered to me. This little light would follow me anywhere and everywhere. It was always in my heart. It was all of my love.

After a few minutes, the light started to fade, and I let it disappear completely. I became tired again and this time, fell into a dreamless sleep.

~Time Skip~

Light poured into the warehouse as the sun peeked through the small skylight. I woke up quietly and rubbed the sleep from my eyes, still thinking about my dream from before. _'Weird. I've never had a dream like that before.' _

As I was remembering my dream, the door to the warehouse creaked open. Topaz, with her sharp hearing, woke up easily from the squeaking of the old doors.

She yawned and, sensing another person awake, glanced around the old warehouse until her golden eyes landed on me. "You look a little shaken up. Feeling okay Skycatcher?" She whispered.

Before I could respond, the reason for the doors opening, being the white coats, made themselves known. But they weren't alone.

Two of the Americans that were here yesterday stood behind a bald headed "professor" and the oh so "fun" Narfeti. It was the scarlet haired woman and the light brown haired man who came again.

Narfeti led the way to first, where Ivy was still asleep, curled into the corner of her cage. The bald professor carelessly grabbed the poor girl, shaking her out of her dream world and flung her over his shoulder. Her only response was a surprised squeal and stayed quiet afterwards.

Then, Narfeti walked over to my cage and gave one of his awful grins. The kind that you want to slap right off of his face. Anyway, he opened my cage slowly and roughly grabbed me by one of my wings, pulling me down to the ground.

I noticed the American man flinch at the sound of me slamming against the ground, though the woman's face was still impassive. I was half dragged across the floor as we migrated toward the doors.

Narfeti pulled me up. "Listen here," He hissed into my ear," You better behave for these people. Otherwise…" He smirked at me and kicked me through the door, I landed with an "oof!"

I noticed that Shuffle and the hooded girl were also in the hallway, each being closely watched by a guard.

The bald guy put Ivy down next to me and pulled out two silver bracelets from his pocket. Each suppression bracelet was latched on to our wrists before the handcuffs that bonded me to Shuffle and Ivy to the hooded girl.

Trying to keep my optimism up, I smiled at Shuffle. "Don't worry, we're gonna be okay!"

He gave an unsure look back. "How do you know?" "I don't, but this will be a new adventure for us full of opportunities, so why be scared?"

The white haired boy seemed astounded by my answer, if his silence was anything to go by. He gave a small smile back to me.

"That's a new way of thinking." He said. I smiled back at him before I was roughly shoved from behind. Twisting around, I almost laughed at the scowl on Narfeti's face._ 'Don't do it. Don't do it!'_

"Wow, that's quite an improvement from your regular face, Nar-fet-i!" I pronounced every letter of his name, smirking as he showed his sudden surprise. It was a custom that experiments don't get to know the names of their handlers.

I wasn't expecting him to shove my head back forward. I grunted in pain as Narfeti shoved be farther down the hallway. I followed the never-ending hallway, Shuffle visible in the corner of my eye. The foreigner guy and the bald guy began making small talk.

"So, everything is ready for shipment?" The foreigner's American accent poked out in his speech, still speaking Malay.

The bald guy responded. "Yes everything is ready to go."

"So…" the American hesitated, unsure of what to say. So his mate decided to pick up the conversation.

"How far will you accompany us?" She sounded a bit impatient.

"All the way on to the ship, to get our cargo situated, then we shall depart." Narfeti put his two cent in.

I felt a twitch near my left, tapping on my shoulder. Turning I noticed that it was one of Shuffle's albino wings, twitching awkwardly. I leaned closer to him. "What's wrong with your wing, Shuffle?"

He twitched again at the sudden touch of our hands together- something we couldn't get out of from the handcuffs- but stayed staring straight ahead. He never answered my question.

After what seemed like an hour- but I was always an exaggerator- we found ourselves pushing our way through the large double doors of the University, leading out to the desert.

Behind the fence now, instead of the guests from yesterday, was a large armored car, completely black and all shiny. Shuffle seemed to be trying (Key word being _trying_) to hide from the bright morning light of the sun. I decided not to ask any more questions. For now.

We piled into the car, or more like, the Americans and the scientists got in first, then yanked us in by the handcuffs. I let out a squeak of pain from the harsh metal, then regretted it as I saw the smug look on Narfeti's face.

This guy always knew how to get on my nerves.

The ride lasted for about an hour or so, traveling east. I got tired of trying to get information out of the scarlet haired woman- which got absolutely nowhere by the way- so I switched to gathering information through my second favorite way- observing the area around me.

The first thing I noticed was that the two foreigners had the same emblem on the chests of their outfits. What seemed to be a picture of some type of bird with stripes separating the bottom to seem like wings. _It seems familiar to me, but from where?_

It had something written around it, the letters circling the silver and black bird. I'm not sure what it says though. Reading was never a strong point for me. I always get the letters mixed up.

Come to think of it, I was never strong in learning and paying attention. The scientist tried to help me understand, but then they just sort of – gave up. I never knew the reason why.

Anyway, the second thing I noticed that Ivy was awfully quiet. She kept staring out of the back window, back to the University that was gradually shrinking into the desert. She had a bored expression on her face, but I knew she was thinking of so much more.

I didn't know what, but much more.

Also, Shuffle managed to get my hand off of my leg on to the cool leather seat and was fidgeting with his hands, giving me a glance every few minutes. Just as I would glance back at him, he would jerk his head back down to his nervously dancing thumbs. His large bat wings were huddled to his side, still twitching like before.

After a while, Ivy started moving in her seat, getting almost as fidgety as when she was given French fries for dinner, which got me suspicious and apparently the American woman as well.

"Are you alright?" She asked with a confused expression. Ivy was still twitching, but now she was on her feet, looking out the small windows of the armored car. She managed to pull the cloaked girl up with her (keep in mind that we're still handcuffed together).

A small chuckle came from the dark blue cloak, almost silent. "She seems to be quite attracted to the salty air coming from the sea." From the soft feminine voice, it was a girl. She didn't seem annoyed by Ivy rambunctious actions, simply amused by them.

Soon enough, the heat trap of transportation came to a jerky stop and the driver came around to unlock the back doors.

I stepped out into the world, glad to be back under the warm sunlight and the challenge of adventure tugging at me.

We were at a port. The entire area was crowded by people of different skin shades and hair colors. Black, gray, brown hair. Dark skin, pale skin, tanned, and olive all mixing together to create large diversities in the even larger docks.

Ivy was still intoxicated by the sea salt air. It smelled like fish to me, but then again, we all have our weird things about us. Mine is probably my obsession with the sky. But what can I say, I'm a bird.

Narfeti- to make us look inconspicuous- wrapped me and Shuffle in robes, hiding our wings from the others occupying the docks. We walked on through the area, passing by rows of boats of many colors.

We stopped in front of a large ship, about halfway down the docks. It was large, with three giant sails tugging against the wind. "That's a big ship." I said.

A man near us must've heard me, and gave the information on the ship. "This baby is called the King's Shadow. She's a three masted Schooner with a great handle on the ocean, and easy to maneuver if you get caught in storms. Faster than a sloop and stronger than a pirate ship. Even at 8.8 meters (29 ft.) to the top mast, and 33 and a half meters (110 ft.) from end to end." He beamed with pride.

"Oh, so it's a _really _big ship." Shuffle concluded. The poor sailor seemed despaired by our lack of interest. Narfeti finally decided to step in. "Forgive the children; it's their first time seeing a ship in real life. I am Professor Igneous Narfeti. Are you the man who will sail us to Chennai?"

As the men began to converse about the course of the sailing, I once again walked over to Ivy, helpless Shuffle still in tow. "Where's Chennai?" Was my question for today. Ivy, seemingly calmed down- well at least a little bit- from her salt rush gave a simple answer.

"It's a port in India, across the Bay of Bengal. Right now we're at-"

"Georgetown. Named after King George the third." The cloaked girl spoke up before Ivy could finish. The poor Arabian skinned girl was fuming. If there was anything the green eyed girl didn't like, it was being interrupted.

Soon enough, everything was cleared and, one by one, we made it to the deck of the white painted ship. Almost as soon as we stepped on to the ship, the cloaked girl fell to her knees, the sleeves of her robe encircled around her stomach.

Ivy took this to her advantage and smirked. " What's the matter, a little sea sick, mystery girl?" She mocked. She shook her head. "I'm not too fond of being off of land."

Quickly, the ladder used to climb was brought aboard once again and the ship was untied to the docks.

We were sailing out to sea.

The adults were conversing among each other, so we were left to do whatever. Except fly away. So we amused ourselves by asking questions to each other. I managed to find out a lot about the hidden girl and Shuffle, and even a few new things about Ivy that I didn't know. We told each other about ourselves. The hooded girl started first.

"My name is Magenta, and I wear this cloak for reasons that I rather wouldn't tell you. The only reason I knew about Georgetown was because that is my power. To be able to know about a person or object's history just by touching it." That was about all we could get from her.

Shuffle was next. "Well, um, I wasn't known by anything but my experiment number until Firefly called me Shuffle. She has been my first and best friend. Um, I-I'm scrambled with the DNA of a Honduran white bat, and I'm very sensitive to sunlight and loud sounds. Oh, and I'm 11"

It seemed I was up next so I gave a big smile and introduced myself. "My name is Firefly! I'm mixed with the DNA of a peregrine falcon, the fastest animal on earth! Anyway, I'm 9 years old and I'm a bit tall for my age. I also have like a type of internal compass thingy, so I always know which way I'm traveling. I can also create a ball of light in my hands when I'm happy!" I finished my dialogue and waited for Ivy to start.

"I'm Ivy, as you can see by my eye color. I can understand just about any language; I am also able to great pretty vivid illusions, to the point where it's hard for even me to tell the difference between the illusion or a living nightmare. I also have an older sister that we left back at the University and I miss her dearly…" Ivy trailed off, probably thinking about her family that was left behind.

I contemplated telling more about myself to lighten the mood, but my thoughts were interrupted by Shuffle.

"Hey guys, do you hear that too?" The naturally nervous boy asked. I listened closely, but only heard it after a few more seconds. "Yeah, kinda like a helicopter." Magenta said.

"No," Ivy pointed up to the sky, "_Exactly_ like a helicopter." And there it was, hovering above us was a big black chopper, not even 10 feet above the highest mast. A rope ladder was thrown down toward the deck, but that's not what caught my attention.

It was the emblem painted silver on the side of the dark machine. The same bird that I saw on the Americans' outfits. The same one described to me when I was a little girl, hoping for my freedom.

_The logo of SHIELD. _


	3. Chapter 3: A twist in negotiations

Flight to freedom Chapter 3:

Topaz POV:

King, to say the least, was furious that the girls had been taken when everyone was asleep. He yelled in his cage and beat on the titanium bars, roaring furiously with his sharp cat ears flattened to his golden hair, like a mad man. His tantrum had already awakened Snowflower and Chauncey, the ill-tempered Tasmanian devil boy.

"How could they just take them, without letting us say goodbye?!" He began ranting.

"King…"

He started pacing in his cage, not that he had much room to do so.

"Kidnapped, right under our noses. How dare they!"

"King." I said a little louder. He still wasn't listening.

"We should show those white coats exactly what feels like to lose a member of their pack."

"King!"I tried again in vain.

How would they feel it they lost a member of their pack? I bet they'd," He was cut off by me.

"KING!" I lost my temper and hissed at him, a habit I had ever since I was experimented on. My temper was definitely something to be afraid of. King, now looking like a scared puppy, sat down and listened to me.

"The emblem on the American's shirts. They were of SHIELD." I spoke out. Everyone seemed to be listening to me now that I had mentioned them. King shook his head. "No way, SHIELD was just a bed time story. It doesn't exist." He moved farther back into his cage.

The creak of the warehouse doors welcomed a new person into our collection of cages. Actually, two new people and another white coat. Both of them male, though one looked like he had been through a war, but only looked roughly around twenty. His bright blonde hair was combed over perfectly, well as opposed to his companion.

His other one was definitely a scientist. I could smell some type of chemical in his blood, deep inside and scramble among his DNA like mine. His hair was streaked with gray strands hiding among the brown mass. His brown eyes were full of wisdom behind the thick reading glasses.

King was staring down the blonde, seemingly trying to get him to flinch, with no luck. The professor came right up to my cage and stared at me. I decided to have a little rest and leaned back, like I had no care in the world.

"This one is experiment 29 of our feline arc. Mixed with the DNA of various wild cats, she is one of our most successful, with the exception of a _minor_ complication." I almost laughed at the minor part.

The scientist asked a question, surprising me for his American accent. "What's her name?" It was a question that surprised me indeed.

I smirked. "Tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine." I said. The white coat seemed surprised by my outburst.

The scientist answered anyway, _and with a smile, what nice manners_ I mentally laughed. "My name is Bruce Banner and this" he gestured to his companion, "Is Steve Rodgers." I thought for a moment.

"Well, alright then, Bruce, they call me Topaz, or the Bone-chopper. Whichever floats your boat." I said lied about the second name. Banner smiled.

Rolling his eyes at me, the white coat proceeded to tell the two about King. "Ex. 28 is also part of our feline arc. He, unlike ex. 29, is enhanced with the DNA of a domesticated serval. He has sensitive ears to be able to hear a bird's wing beat from about a half a mile away."

The idiot King tried to make himself look proud, which wasn't hard considering his mountain sized ego. Eventually, the white coat removed us from our cages for another day of training, starting with a flexibility and body strength session.

* * *

We were led to our usual area for training, a huge room that basically looked like a giant jungle gym. Poles stuck out from awkward sides of the walls, connecting with the other side of the room, some connecting with other poles.

At the top of the gym, hanging from the ceiling was our target. It was different every day and today, it seemed to be some kind of bread. How they managed to get that on a string was beyond me.

The minute the white coat let go of our tails, we sprinted to the first pole that we could get. I crouched just below the first bar and shot up, easily keeping a hold on the bar. Jumping nimbly from bar to bar, I risked a look back down.

King was right below me, desperately trying to catch up to my height. King, infused with the DNA of a domestic cat, is a lot slower than me, infused with the DNA of many types of wild cats. I could hear his hurried breaths as he jumped from pole to pole, the sound of his hands hitting metal echoing throughout the arena type room.

I brushed some of my spiky black hair away from my orange-yellow eyes and put on another boost of energy, speeding up. By now we were beyond the line on the wall, marking the halfway point to the target.

I was just in reach of the hanging string of bread when I felt yanked down by my long lion tail. Stopping, King let go of my tail and hopped on to the bar next to me, breathing heavily. I smirked. "What's the matter, too much for ya', _house pet_?" I mocked, accentuating the last word. That really got on his nerves. I could see the fire blazing in his ice blue eyes.

"What's the matter, you fur brained Arabian, am I going too easy on you?" He mocked right back to me.

"Going easy? Or going soft!" I laughed at him as I said it. He fixed me with a stone cold glare. I really got his gears turning now. "I'll take your silence as a yes!"

"Take it as a challenge!" He screeched and launched at me, throwing us both off of the bar. I twisted in midair, latching on to another pole and vaulting myself up. King apparently did the same, as he was now a bar above me.

I leapt up to swipe at his leg with my "claws" and narrowly missed him, catching his short tail instead. He let out a cry of surprise as he fell from my added weight. Letting go, I reached out for another bar, twisting once again in midair to catch it.

I landed sideways partly on a bar, leaving me winded. As I let myself catch my breath, King was already up and headed towards the top again.

Deciding to give it one last try, I righted myself and leapt gracefully from pole to pole, gaining height and losing distance between me and the spotted tailed serval boy. He never suspected me coming as he gave one last leap up to the hanging bread (seriously, how do they get it to do that?).

I grabbed his tail and the final bar at the same time, yanking them both down to increase velocity as I shot up and grabbed the bread, landing on the highest pole successfully. I held up my prize in triumph. King snorted and muttered something that sounded like "show off" and quickly climbed back down to ground floor, I followed in suit.

When we got down to the ground, I split the bread in half and offered one to my companion. Giving a little smile, he took it and bit into the soft bread, savoring it. I did the same, listening to the conversation that our audience was absorbed into.

"… is perfect. We'll be back tomorrow to pick them up. We'll be taking them by helicopter if that is okay."

"That, Mr. Banner, is excellent. Thank you for doing business with us." The three shook hands and the white coat grabbed me and King, wrinkling my already ruined sleeveless jacket, and walked us back to the warehouse. Before we were shoved into our cages, I felt something being pushed into my hand.

After we were locked back up and left alone, we discussed.

"So," King started, "First Firefly and Ivy, then us. Do you think they're planning on selling us all?" He looked at me.

Unfolding the paper that was forced into my hand, my eyes widened at the symbol of the eagle, surrounded by words. I showed the paper to everyone.

Strategic Hazard Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division.

_S.H.I.E.L.D._

* * *

-Flashback~ 4 years ago

_We were all gathered into a plain white room, probably for another teamwork test. I never knew why they do these things. Ivy was standing next to me, only reaching up to mid-arm as I was 10 and she only 6. _

_Firefly, the new girl, was huddled into a corner, shivering nervously. Her bright violet eyes darted from one person to another as we waited for our handlers, and her light brown-blonde hair_

_Finally, a female white coat walked in. Now, we never liked the scientists that enjoyed playing with our feelings and torturing us, but this particular girl was special. She was somewhere around 25 with a calm disposition and soft eyes._

_She never told us her name, but we decided to call her Serenity, because she made us peaceful. Anyway, Serenity would often tell us stories about the outside world, as it seemed that only I could remember my life before the University._

_She spoke of a special organization of agents that could someday save us from this miserable pit of darkness. "Strategic Hazard Intervention Enforcement Logistics Division, a.k.a. SHIELD. They specialize in helping others and keeping the peace for the whole world."_

"_And how do we know that they're real and you're not just making this up?" As usual, King was wary of anything the white coat said, afraid that she was filling our heads with empty promises. She merely smiled and pulled out something from her pocket._

_In here pale hands; she held a black and white circle, with a bird on it. "This is the SHIELD insignia. Its black and white, with an eagle with its wings spread out behind the American stars and stripes." She showed us the logo, the silver letters catching the artificial light of the room. _

_Later that week, Serenity was "relieved" from the University, never to be seen again._

_That sign would be forever etched into our minds as a myth, believing that nothing could save us from our fates. Never had I been so wrong._

Flashback end~

King seemed to be lost staring at the paper holding the so called "myth" that we lost faith in so long ago. Snowflower was the first to react. Her pale blue eyes lit up at the crumpled logo. "SHIELD is real! We're going to be saved!" The others started to celebrate with whispered happiness and cheers. Our mini celebration was cut short by more "visitors" coming to see us.

I quickly hid the paper, tucking it safely in my fingerless glove. These new people held an air of darkness to them, and I immediately took a disliking to them. There were only three of them, besides the white coat that accompanied them.

The tall guy in the middle merely pointed to the cages holding Moonah, King and Leo, the youngest of us and an odd cross breed between a lion and a wolf (he had a very fuzzy gray tail with a large puff on the end and regular lion ears). The other two with him took the three out of their cages, attaching small silver bracelets on each of their wrists.

Moonah tried to fight them, scratching at the handler and screeching out, until the white coat pulled out a small remote and pressed a button, rendering the howler girl temporarily paralyzed. She sat down in a daze as the other visitor threw her over his shoulder, dragging the others out the door.

"Wait!" I called out. "Where are you taking them?!" The white coat looked back at me. "I thought we don't leave until tomorrow?"

He smirked. "Sorry, my dear, but the Germans pay more. Don't worry, after a few 'negotiations', 143 will get to go to America with you." He laughed and, on that happy note, closed the doors to the warehouse, leaving us in almost complete darkness, save the small sliver of evening light coming from the window above.

I heard sniffling coming from my right and immediately knew it was Snowflower. The poor girl just lost her brother to a foreign country. I had no idea what to say to her, though I knew how she felt. After all, I had no idea if I would ever see my sister or best friend again. But I did know one thing.

SHIELD is real. And they're coming for us. _All of us._


	4. Chapter 4: No Longer a Legend

Flight to Freedom Chapter 4:

Firefly POV

I almost couldn't believe my purple hued eyes. And I thought I had seen everything.

Hanging not even 3 feet away from me, just brushing the wooden deck of the King's Shadow, was a rope ladder leading up to a SHIELD helicopter. I could barely hear anything other than the sounds of the blades turning, the wind rushing around my ears.

In my peripheral vision, something moved quickly to the ladder. Turning my attention now, I saw that it was the American man shouting something in English. Having been surrounded by Malay-speaking people for most of my life, my English understanding had become a little rusty.

He turned and jogged over to Ivy and Magenta, pulling out something from his pocket. From there I noticed that at some time when I wasn't looking, the captain of the ship had been tied to his own steering wheel, his few crewmates knocked out around him. Narfeti was nowhere to be seen, though I had a bit of an idea where he was now.

I realized that something was tugging at my wrist, revealing to be the other foreigner, the woman. She had a strange tool in her hand, now picking at the handcuffs binding me and Shuffle together. With one simple click, the chains fell to the ground, clanging on the deck.

The American man started yelling at us, obviously working in a hurry. "Go! Get on the chopper!" Ivy was the first to respond to the task, making her way up the ladder as fast as she could, Magenta hot on her tail (if she had one, that is.).

Finally getting a grasp of what was happening; Shuffle grabbed my hand and unfolded his wings, coaxing me to do the same. We took off, shooting up to the helicopter, hand in hand. We landed, stumbling, on the metal flooring of the large aircraft.

The inside had a leather bench on each side, black like the suit of the man sitting on one of them. He got up just as the two foreigners made it to the end of the rope. As soon as the scarlet haired woman got on, the helicopter pulled away, the experiments falling from the sudden jerk.

The three came to speak to each other, but Ivy didn't let them converse for long before her impatience (a trait shared with her sister) got the better of her.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on here?" Her eyes were flooded with confusion. Chuckling, the first guy, the one that was with us, explained.

"Well, first off, the name's Clint Barton, this" he said pointing to the woman, "is Natasha Romanov, and this is SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson." He finished with introductions. Shuffle tilted his head, snow white hair just covering the tops of his eyes. "What's 'SHIELD?"

It was time for the woman, now dubbed Natasha, to put in her two cents. "SHIELD is an espionage and law-enforcement agency headquartered within the United States."

"So," Magenta interpreted, "You're the good guys?"

Phil chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you can say that." He turned to the pilot's seat of the chopper and sat down next to him. The little bit of tension in the space had fled from the news. Now feeling relaxed everyone sat down to catch their bearings. It wasn't until then that I noticed that Shuffle was still holding my hand. _'Why did I wait until now to notice?' _I jerked my hand out of his grasp, earning a flinch from him.

Ivy was still "interrogating" the agents across from us. "What about the other men that came to see us yesterday? Who were they?" "They're with us, in a group called the Avengers Initiative, but they don't necessarily work for SHIELD like us." Clint responded.

"Where are you taking us now?" Clint smiled at the question. He leaned back in his seat, resting his head against the leather and crossing his well-built arms.

"To HQ." he said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Ivy rolled her eyes. "Okay, exactly where is that?"

He shrugged. "Not sure, sometimes it's in New York, sometimes its elsewhere." Needless to say, we were all confused now. It wasn't long until we got the answer to our unspoken question.

No one had noticed that the helicopter had landed until the monotonous humming of the engine had stopped, and the back had opened up yet again.

* * *

It was as if we had entered into a new world. We were on some type of landing strip, sailing in the water. I had so many things that I wanted to say then so I uttered the ever intelligent, "Woah."

Ivy followed up with her remark. "Looks like something out of a Sci-fi movie." The four of us walked over to the edge of the "ship", looking out to the endless blue-green sea. I smelt the scent of salt water, as Ivy seemed to as well. She went into another mini-fit, seemingly addicted to the element compound.

Four large turbines were placed on each corner of the surface, water churning inside, propelling it forward. Shuffle seemed mesmerized with looking into the water, fascinated by the power of the propellers. His ears twitched and he turned around. I followed his gaze to the agents walking toward us.

Clint smirked. "C'mon, there'll be time for exploring later." We all followed them to the inside of the large ship, in which I was now convinced it was a submarine. Inside, the entire ship looked like the headquarters for a computer troubleshooting company.

There were many agents diligently working on either the many computers on the platforms or delivering stacks of papers from one place to another. Suddenly, I felt us being watched. Using my excellent vision, I found pair of dark eyes looking back at me. Well, one dark eye and a black eye patch.

The eye belonged to a large man dressed in all black that held an air of absolute authority around him. He had to have been the director, hands down. He obviously intimidated the others, by the way that they were trying to hide behind me. Well, Shuffle and Magenta were anyway.

He walked down from his platform in the center of the room, taking slow, silent steps coming toward us. He stopped right in front of me. He seemed a lot less scary when standing on his platform, but now, towering above me by a good few _feet_, as I only reached up to his stomach.

He gave me one look over with his one good eye, and walked over to Agent Coulson as I let out a breath that I hadn't realized was holding in. The two talked for a few seconds before we were herded into a new room, this one occupied by old new faces.

They were all sitting around an arrowhead shaped table with the SHIELD insignia in the middle. The seemingly youngest one stood up and walked over to us. "So," his blue eyes darted down to meet us, and then back up to Agent Coulson, "These are the children that were rescued?" Coulson only nodded and left the room.

He quickly came back with a bunch of manila folders tucked under his arm. "These are their files and all of the information that we have on them."

He set the folders on to the table, leaving the room. Before picking up the files, they each introduced themselves to us, starting with the glasses character.

"My name is Bruce, by the way. Bruce Banner."

"Tony Stark. Genius, Billionaire, and Ironman." It was the man with an odd blue glow in his chest, and an overpowering ego as I had just learned.

The large buff warrior was next. "Greetings, midgardian children. I am Thor Odinson." His voice boomed like a hidden speaker. What is with this guy's speech? It's like he thinks he's a god or something.

"Steve Rodgers." Was the simple line of the other buff blonde. After the quick introductions, they each grabbed a folder, save Thor and Natasha, who had mysteriously disappeared already.

With nothing else to do, and the adults immersed in our files, I silently slipped out of the room alone. Keeping to the shadows, I managed to go undetected by passing agents. Somehow, I found my way up to a higher level, looking out at the main area that we were in before.

The director was once again on his platform, overseeing his agents and giving them commands. "Prepare for take-off." His deep voice carried the command and the room went into a type of controlled chaos. Statuses were shouted out, percentages outspoken, and finally, a "takeoff" was shouted out.

Looking out the window that was faced out to sea, the waves began to get larger as the turbines spun faster and faster. Before I even knew it, the saltwater waves disappeared from the window and large white clouds came closer.

This ship could fly. My mind has now been blown.

I heard a gasp behind me. Whipping my head around (and throwing my blond-brown hair out of my face) I found that Magenta had followed me and was also surprised by the airship's capabilities. Now discovered, she came to stand by me, her cloak slightly dragging across the ground. I looked back to the window.

"Our world is changing so quickly." I said, still amazed by the high tech airship. She nodded, her dark blue hood moving up and down.

"In more ways than one, it seems." Finally satisfied with staring out of the window, we decided to explore the rest of the ship together. We made our way around a lot of passageways and through many doors. We discovered training grounds, holding cells, conference rooms and a very large medical unit within the 30 minutes that no one noticed that we were gone.

* * *

After another half hour, we headed back to the Avengers room, Magenta remembering the way. When we opened the door, everything was in frenzy.

The files had been removed from the table, as well as the chairs and everyone was running around the room, calling for our names. Shuffle, who has expert hearing and had heard the click of the door closing, noticed us first as everyone else was searching the room.

"Ahem." Magenta caught the attention of the superheroes with a simple cough and all movement in the room ceased, all eyes focused on us two. Bruce let out a sigh of relief and walked up to us, a cautious expression on his face.

"You two shouldn't run off like that. Are you okay?" His voice was soft, like a worried and caring father.

I was taken aback by the question and the look in his eyes. No one had ever asked me that before, much less an adult that I had met just over an hour ago. While I was still speechless, Magenta covered for the both of us.

"We were just curious about the ship, so we went on an adventure of sorts." She said plainly. Her answer seemed to satisfy him for now. So after sitting in the corner with nothing to do for another 20 or so minutes, the door opened again and the director came in, followed by a female agent.

The avengers took their seats again and me and the others gathered around the table, waiting for the director to speak.

"Alright, here's what's going to happen. While we're in the process of taking down the University of Itex, the ones that were rescued will stay at Stark towers until the special complex being built in Montana is complete, which could be about a few more weeks." He spoke to the avengers.

They went off, talking about something involving rooms and board and lifestyles. I hadn't noticed that they had stopped talking until the director had left the room, the female agent still at his side. Tony stood up and clapped his hands together.

"Okay, time to go home now kiddies!" This guy was really starting to get on my nerves and the playboy smirk on his face wasn't making it any better. Reluctantly, we followed him outside to discover that the airship had landed next to a large city.

Buildings of all types towered above us, and in the distance, a bridge connecting between the mainland and an island. Never had I seen such a big city, and I was only the select few experiments that actually remembers their life before the University.

"Welcome," Tony said dramatically," to America. New York City, to be exact." Mesmerized, we followed him to where two silver limousines were waiting for us. I felt like a hummingbird in a chicken coop. Very little and out of place.

We piled into the cars, the four of us, Tony and Bruce in one, Clint and the others, including the funny talking "Thor" in the second. The two adults were amused by our bewildered expressions as we looked out of the tinted windows into the large urban jungle.

"I've never seen anything so bright before." Shuffle whispered.

"There are streets everywhere." We began pointing out the obvious.

"No sandy deserts." Ivy said.

"And people get to walk to wherever they want to go."

"No fences."

"No cages." On that note, the limo stopped in front of a very tall building with the name STARK on the very top. _Did I say overpowering ego? I meant arrogant._ It looks like _someone _forgot to cash in their reality check.

Folding our wings to look normal, Shuffle and I stepped out first, tailed by Ivy and Magenta. As we stared in awe at the skyscraper, Tony told his chauffer where to park and then we headed in. The entire tower was filled with shiny and expensive decorative, a taste that I was not accustom to, nor did I like.

We went up the elevator, past about 20 other floors that had who knows what on them, finally stopping on a hotel like floor. It had a comforting air to it, as if the atmosphere itself was saying "welcome home."

A few minutes later, the others came up and got situated, sitting on the couch in front of the T.V., or in the dining area.

"Alright," Tony began." Let's get you all to your new rooms." Once again, he led us back to the elevator, this time leading to a floor that looked more like a condo with extra rooms.

Magenta and I shared a room that was certainly luxurious. A burnt orange trimming on cream colored walls. Our very own flat screen TV mounted on a wall opposite of the two queen sized beds. One with a light orange cover, the other with a baby blue. It had quite a homey feeling to it.

After getting situated, we met back up with the others on Floor 22, as I had now found out. Steve and Thor were watching TV, now on commercial. Tony and Bruce were conversing together once again about science, or so it seemed, until Tony noticed our presence.

He smiled. "So make yourselves at home. You are gonna be here a while. I'll be sure to give you all a full tour later." Shuffle went to go sit next to Steve, now interested in their show as well. Magenta went back to our room, and Ivy was nowhere to be found.

"What do you have to drink around here?" I asked the owner of the empire. He chuckled.

"Well, for you, we have water or melted ice. Your pick." He said with that same smirk. Out of all of the things I witnessed today, I was certain about only one thing.

Tony Stark and I would _not _be getting along.

* * *

~End of Chapter 4~

I'm so glad I finally made it this far in writing. I feel so proud of myself! Anyway just a little fact about me: I'm terrible at writing in third person, so this entire story may be written in Firefly's and Topaz's POV.

And just a random question to let you think about: who is your favorite Avengers character? Mine is Nick Fury. He's so awesome!

"Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere."~ Carl Sagan


	5. Chapter 5: A Long day

Topaz POV

After a few days of intensive training exercises and a few nights of comforting Snowflower and putting up with the ever so chatty Chauncey, I was beginning to question if we'd actually ever get out of here. Not that I'd admit my uncertainty to my last two warehouse mates.

Without my sparring partner for training every day, I let my mind wander as I completed the day's obstacle courses. I especially wondered about where all of my friends were taken to- particularly King and the others. The two who came to collect Ivy and Firefly were obviously the ones that the two were supposed to go with.

But what about those Germans? What did they want with King and the others? The more I thought about it the more I realized that King was very calm when they took him. He went without protest, very much unlike him to do, considering that he was often reluctant to go _anywhere _without his little sister.

It was about five days later that the agents finally came to get the three of us. Though it wasn't the same two who came to see us before, instead the two who came to pick up Ivy and Firefly graced us with their presence again to take us away.

Following the usual routine of being taken out of our cages and a bracelet snapped to our wrists (even Chauncey, who was asleep at the time, was carried by the male foreigner on his back), we were led out into the desert evening where an interesting surprise was waiting for us.

We were taking a helicopter.

I had only ever been in the air once, and I only vaguely remember it. I think it was an airplane, I remember looking out of a tiny window only to see rushing water falling down into a sharp rock pool below. We were flying away from a large waterfall, the gallons of clear water dropping down into the pool, forming into a stream.

We simply stood outside, me taking in the sight of the plain black chopper while the adults stood, conversing about the events leading up to now. One question happened to catch in my small black cat ears;

"Do you know what's happened to Professor Narfeti? Director Steele is frustrated that we haven't heard anything from him in days."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the red haired woman trying to hold back a smirk-and succeeding mostly- while the man simply shook his head and shrugged. I had a feeling that the professor was on a long leave of absence- a very long one.

By now I had noticed that Snow hadn't said anything at all, and while at first I thought it was because it was very nearly around seven or eight at night, a time that she usual slept at, though she wasn't particularly chatty at any time of day.

She was staring at the ground the whole time, long white hair covering her faded blue eyes. Shuffling her scandal clad feet, Snowflower was radiating cold air off of her pale skin, despite the musky heat of the desert.

Suddenly, a light shove was given to my back and the grey eyed man was gently pushing us toward the helicopter, the blades on the top beginning to pick up speed, throwing sand around it. We got inside and sat down, Snowflower sitting next to the blonde haired man clad entirely in black, who placed Chauncey down on the seat. The Tasmanian devil boy was well known ability to sleep through anything.

Other than the pilot, it was only us four sitting across from each other. Snow still wasn't saying anything, no doubt afraid of what would happen to us. Seeing how she had taken to playing the "silent game", I decided to ask our unspoken questions.

"Who are you, and where are you taking us?" I addressed the man. But it was the scarlet haired woman who spoke.

"I'm Agent Romanov, this is Agent Barton, and we are taking you to the SHIELD Helicarrier." She finished the very short introductions and crossed her arms, leaning back in her seat as she did so. She was also in an all-black cat suit, complete with a gun belt and black fingerless leather gloves.

Being one of the top experiments, I was given generally the best clothing, fashion wise anyway. But sitting next to Romanov, an elite woman from the way she holds herself, I felt so plain in my red sleeveless jacket, dark gray ripped jeans, and fingerless black gloves. And shoeless. I hated shoes.

But back to the matter at hand…

"What's a Helicarrier?" Snowflower's voice was so light and soft; I had to strain my own expert hearing to know what she said. "You'll see." Barton said with a knowing glance.

* * *

About 20 minutes later, the helicopter landed with a soft 'click' of metal upon metal, indicating that we were finally at this "Helicarrier". Once we stepped off, I thought maybe we had taken a wrong turn and ended up in a high tech sci-fi movie. Once again, Barton was carrying the lazy boy who despite everything, _still _hadn't woken up. He's gonna be so confused when he wakes up tomorrow.

The Helicarrier was a giant ship, floating in what I assumed to be the Pacific Ocean. Surrounding us, people were scurrying from one place to another, preparing for something. We followed the agents into the ship, expecting it to be a submarine.

Inside, a giant base of operations, complete with so many computers and high tech equipment that it could make a technician cry. I was surprised that these agents were at the top of their game, despite it being well past dark by now. Snowflower and I stood there for another 20 minutes, waiting for someone to give us an action to do and trying hard not to fall asleep on our feet, to which the younger of us was very close to achieving.

Finally we followed Agent Romanov to what seemed to be a medical bay, with small beds and cabinets filled with bottles and needles. Snowflower and I each sat on a bed, waiting for the doctor to come in and start a medical evaluation.

She started with Snow, checking for any injuries first. The minute she touched her hand to the ice-powered girl's cold skin, she flinched. Grabbing a thermometer from the table next to her, she made Snow open her mouth and took her temperature. Following the beep of the device, she checked the reading on it, eyes widening a bit at the result.

Taking out a notebook, she wrote a few things down, and then moved on. She checked her eyes, teeth, ears and heart rate before moving on to me.

She went through the same procedure, checking my cat ears and tail also. Scribbling something down again on her little notebook, she decided that we were finished for now and to get some sleep. Stepping outside of the medical bay, we followed Romanov down a long passageway, stopping at a glass panel door leading to a large cafeteria.

Inside, Agent Barton was explaining something to a bewildered boy with two small ears peeking out of his tousled black hair. We stepped in to join them. We sat down, curious about the food in front of us. The table was filled with many different kinds of food, from pongee, a type of rice porridge they fed us in Malaysia, to cheeseburgers, an all American treat that neither Snow nor Chauncey ever had the chance to eat.

I dug right in, filling my plate with one of each food. Chauncey followed right after, trying the chocolate pudding from the bowl in the middle first. Immediately, his dark brown eyes lit up at the mildly sweet and creamy treat, inspiring him to try something else from the mini feast.

Snowflower didn't seem as enticed by the sweets as he did, instead taking a few fruits to fill up on. As we ate, we were interrupted by the sound of the glass door sliding, indicating a new body in the otherwise deserted lunchroom.

Turning to look, I saw a large man dressed in all black, his skin not much darker than my own. He works an eye patch over one eye, a scar crossing behind it. He came up to Agent Barton and handed him three manila folders, each with writing on them, most likely names.

"These are their files. We're also trying to track down the Germans, as they've taken the last three." His voice was a bit husky, to go along with his dark disposition.

The white coats only taught us to speak English, so while I could understand what the guy was saying, I wasn't sure about what the writing on the folders said. Barton took them and nodded, glancing at each one before placing it on the table.

There was a soft thud, and we all turned to see that the day had finally taken its toll on Snow. She was out like a light, snoozing with her head on her plate, a little grape vine tangled in her albino locks.

As Romanov tried to untangle the branch in her hair, the black clad man turned and walked away. "Take them to the extra agents' quarters. You can take them to Stark International in the morning." He said and left the room.

"Who was that?" Chauncey inquired. Agent Barton answered him. "That's General Fury; he's the director of SHIELD." We finished up our dinner and, with me now carrying Snow, Chauncey and I followed Romanov to the sleeping quarters.

* * *

We got settled in our shared room, complete with a flat screen TV and Chauncey taking one bed and me sharing one with the exhausted Snowflower. As I lay the girl softly onto the bed, Chauncey was curious about the TV, never having seen one before.

"What's with the black box?" he asked, staring at it as if it held the universe. Grabbing the remote from the nightstand between us, I told him. "It's a television set." I flicked it on.

Images ran across the screen, a digitalized wedding appearing. I was a movie of some sorts. "Hey!" The curious boy half whispered, half shouted, mindful of Snowflower still sleeping. "How did those people get in the box?"

"They're not in the box; it's just a video recording." At his blank stare, I continued. "There's a special place where the people are watched by a camera, and whatever the camera sees, we can see from the TV." I tried to elaborate.

He nodded. "Okay I get it." _No you don't. _I flicked the channels, looking for something, anything, to watch until it watched me. Finally, I found a colorful cartoon show for us to see, as Chauncey didn't understand much English.

Settling down on the soft comforter next to Snow, I fell into a deep sleep until morning.

_It was one of the few memories that I had before they took us when I was six._

_I had gotten bored with sitting around our hotel room in a city that I had never been to, so I left and went exploring. Turning down winding passageways and avoiding falling into the deep canals, I finally found myself lost. _

_I was just about ready to cry when a boy found me and offered his help. Following him, we quickly found our way back to the hotel I was staying in with my family. He couldn't have been much older than me, maybe around 7 years old._

_We were now sitting on the street in front of the hotel, feet dangling over the canal in Venice. Mom and dad had business here for a short while. For what, I couldn't remember, nor did I care. I didn't care about much then, only about having fun with my new friend I had made here for the short time that I would know him. _

_We were deciding on what to do on a hot day in summer. Normally when I was bored, I would go to my mother and ask her what to do. But with her at work- or more like taking care of my 2 year old baby sister while trying to work - she was out of the question. _

_Finally, he came up with an idea. He gave me a personal tour of Venice, showing me all of the hot spots and where to stay away from, all from the comfort of a long black wooden Gondola. We sat next to each other, him pointing out things from all sides of us. _

_We laughed and told each other about ourselves. His name was Faustino. Faustino Calabretta, a name he seemed proud of. His brown hair was long and shaggy, dark curls reaching down to his shoulders, framing his tan face. He held so much excitement in his hazel green eyes. I had never met anyone so excited to meet me. Or maybe that's the way he acted with everybody he met._

_It still made me feel good. The gondolier stopped at a fork in the path, one way headed to a deeper part of the city, farther than Faustino had been to, the other circling back down to the canal leading to the hotel. He chose the first path saying things like "Trying to take the road less traveled right, bella?" or "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." _

_Turned out that there really was something to be gained going down that road. The gondolier dropped us off at a mini port where more of the boats were docked, and we found a wonderful restaurant. Using the euros that he said his uncle gave him, Faustino bought us a cheesecake, calling it "Cassata alla Siciliana" or Sicilian cheesecake. _

_I adored the taste of, relishing the feeling as it slipped down my tongue and into my stomach. We stayed in the shop until the sun sent rays of gold and orange running along the water before we hailed for another gondola and made it back to the hotel. _

_My parents were furious that I had left the hotel room, asking where I went. I told them of the adventure I had with Faustino, my newly acquired friend, and of the delicious dessert he treated me with. _

_By the end of my story, the angry looks on their faces melted into amusement and they forgave me, so long as I made sure someone knew where I was going next time._

_We quickly left Italy behind, just three days after my adventure with Faustino. I was afraid of losing my good friend and went to go see him again one last time. This time, he had a gift for me. It was a small, silver compass. He joked about me getting lost again._

_I never told him that I was leaving. I wouldn't like the look on his face when he heard about his new friend leaving so quickly. I was afraid of seeing the look of sadness on his face._

_Later, when the University took us, they stripped us from all of our possessions, including the compass that I had held onto so dearly for so long, now attached to a silver chain to turn into a necklace._

_When they experimented on me, I cried. I cried from the physical pain. I cried from the fear of what was happening to my sister now._

_I cried from the guilt of not telling my only friend goodbye._

* * *

Wow! I made it to Chapter 5!

I had been thinking about this all day, and all throughout school. I was kind of hard to concentrate on schoolwork with ideas constantly running through my mind. Anyway, I'm really thankful to those who keep reading on through this story and reviewing. You don't know how much your simple imput on my story inspires me to keep with this story. Thank you.

Another question to reply about: What do you prefer in a story? Adventure? Humor? Maybe even romance?

"My imagination is a monastery, and I am its monk" ~John Keats

~EndingDream~


	6. Chapter 6: Tour Dr NY Who are we?

Flight to Freedom Chapter 6

Firefly POV:

It had really only been one full day since we had been ushered and welcomed into Stark tower. Me and the others spent the whole of yesterday following Stark around to each level of the empire, there being about 98, just a few shy of the Empire State building, or so I'm told.

After listening to a few ground rules being set during dinner (in which we got our first taste of pizza), everyone retired to their rooms for the night.

The next day was special. Tony was taking us on our own personal tour of New York City. Somehow he managed to drag Steve and Pepper, who we met yesterday along too. Magenta, the only one staying behind with Bruce, was lying on her bed, cloak still covering her features.

I picked out my outfit for the day, folding my wings to hide along the folds of the clothing. I wore a light blue t-shirt, with a light gray jacket and navy clam diggers. I stepped in front of the large mirror on the closet door, turning around to look at myself.

"What do you think, Magenta?" I addressed the girl immersed in the TV set. The dark blue hood glanced over. "Why do you care about how you look? No one else will." She turned back to the TV, mesmerized by the people moving across the box.

I think that deep, deep down… she's a pessimist.

After that happy note, I left the room to meet the others downstairs. Ivy and Shuffle were already down in the lobby, the first floor. Ivy wore a dark green hoodie with black jeans and shoes, bronze bracelets adorning her wrists. Shuffle's attire included a plain white polo shirt, light gray jeans, and black sneakers. He pretty much looked like the grayscale threw up on him.

It was a few minutes until Steve came down alone. After a short greeting from him, he stood awkwardly to the side of the room, gazing at the fancy furniture.

I felt a push behind me. It was Ivy. "Well… go talk to him." She said. I stared back. "Why me?"

She glanced at Shuffle and he nodded. "Well, we decided that you're our spokesperson."

_Spokesperson? What the flip does that mean? _ Before I could turn around, Steve had already walked over to our group, hovering over us.

"Uh," He started, "What do you like to do for fun?" He started an icebreaker. I turned around to look at him fully now, giving him one of my brightest smiles.

"I love telling stories!" I chirped. Steve nodded.

Shuffle asked me, "What kind of stories?" He seemed deeply interested in the idea.

"Stories about adventure. Creating a new, undiscovered land to explore. Never knowing what's out there until you see for yourself." When it came to stories, I loved telling them more than listening about them. The idea of creating your own characters, finding your own storyline, and telling of adventures was always more appealing to me than anything else.

Shuffle seemed to be pleased with my response. " I liked drawing. I don't remember much of my life before the University, but I do remember having a sketchbook. I loved being able to see things in my mind and recreate them on to paper for everyone else to see."

Steve nodded and looked to Ivy. "What about you?" Ivy closed her eyes in thought, arms folded. She kept them closed as she gave her response.

I never had a true hobby. Though, I did like taking apart the pens that the white coats would leave around and see if I could make them into something else."

A moment after, Tony came down the elevator, adjusting his black leather jacket as he stepped up to us, Pepper following. After another short greeting, we stepped outside, where a long black limousine was parked. Tony opened his arms dramatically as we looked to the skyline.

"Welcome, to New York City."

* * *

Topaz POV

Getting Snowflower to sleep last night was deemed a much easier task than actually getting her up in the morning. Chauncey was peacefully snoring into his pillow, thin tail sticking into the air, when the Agents called us to get up.

Still a bit drowsy, I moved over to Chauncey's bed to wake him up first. Knowing that he also was not a morning person, I grabbed his small black tail and yanked him off of the bed, on to the floor.

Blindly tumbling around on the ground, the Tasmanian devil boy scrambled to get the blue comforter untangled from his body. Wide gray eyes looked back at me as Chauncey sat dumbfounded on the floor.

Turning back to the other bed, Snowflower was still dreaming peacefully under the covers, wrapped up like a burrito. With such a cute smile on her childish face, I almost resented waking up the poor albino haired girl.

_Almost._

Grabbing a corner of the covers, I noticed Chauncey's eyes widen at what I was about to do. "Oh, No." He said.

I smirked. "Oh, yes." I one swift movement, I yanked the covers from around Snowflower, effectively spinning her like a barrel, as she landed back on the uncovered bed. Much like Chauncey did, pale blue eyes looked around wildly, trying to comprehend what happened.

Without giving her a chance to speak, I let go of the covers and walked toward the door. "C'mon, we're going." "Where to?" She asked. I didn't answer as I opened the door, revealing the two agents from last night.

The man, Barton, smiled. "Morning bedheads." I looked back at my two companions. He was right, Snow's hair was partly over one eye, strands sticking out at odd angles. Chauncey didn't look much different.

Romanov spoke this time. "Time to meet up with the others." She said. Chauncey, who was now squeezing into the doorframe with me, lit up. "The others? Like Firefly and Ivy?" Barton nodded.

"Hey Snow! Did 'ja hear that? We're gonna see the others again!" He squeaked with happiness. Snowflower nodded, sending a glare at his voice pitch. "Of course I heard, Chauncey. I hear a lot."

The boy leaned away from Snow, remembering to be afraid of her icy Snow Stare. Romanov gave a little smile and turned, leading the way outside.

After following the SHIELD agents down the dark colored hallways of the Helicarrier and outside, we piled into the SUV waiting for us outside. When we got settled, Agent Barton took two pieces of cloth out of the glove compartment and tossed them to Chauncey and I.

Chauncey looked at them in curiosity, turning the dark gray fabric around in his hands. "What's this?" He asked.

"It's a beanie. You wear it on your head." I answered before Barton could. Mine was black with a white stripe lining the bottom. I placed it on my head, making sure that my cat ears were covered completely.

Chauncey still looked confused. "Why do we have to wear them?" "To cover your ears." "Why?"

Romanov sighed. "Because normal people don't have animal ears and we want to keep you away from the news and HRS for a long as possible." The boy looked over at Snow, who was staring out the window at the city skyline.

He frowned at the girl's blank stare. "Normal people also don't have white hair." At that, Snow glanced at Chauncey, head still pointed toward the window. Romanov crossed her arms, seemingly tired of the boy already. I couldn't blame her.

"You're right. But it's easier to write off that you dyed your hair than it is to explain why you have 2 sets of ears." Romanov made a valuable statement.

Chauncey still didn't seem convinced, but he let it go for now. After a little while, we stopped in front of a large tower, the word "STARK" placed on the very top in bright blue lettering. We stepped out of the car and went into the large building.

In the elevator, we went past a series of floors, finally stopping at the top. There, we walked into a living area, complete with a kitchen, dining room, and couches surrounding a large TV.

I was startled by a British accent filling the room. "Welcome back, Ms. Romanov and Mr. Barton. Shall I alert Dr. Banner of your presence?" It asked. Barton smiled at our astounded faces looking for the body that the voice should've belonged to.

"That would be nice Jarvis." Barton said to the voice. "Where are the others?" "Mr. Stark and the others have gone out for a tour of New York City." Snow finally asked the question we were all wondering.

"Where is that voice coming from?" She asked her own voice soft as usual. Barton smiled wider; he seemed to smile a lot. "Jarvis is the AI system that runs the entire building." "You place all of the duties of the house, on artificial intelligence?"

"I'll have you know that I am quite effective, Miss." The AI spoke again. Barton led us to the dining table, setting down the files he had all along.

"This," He passed out each of ours, "is all of the information that the University had gathered from your lives before and the data from the experimentation."

We looked at each other before opening them. Surprisingly, they were in English. Photos of me before and after the experiments were there. In the few weeks of experimenting on me, I had gone from being a scared, scrawny girl with brown eyes and curly hair, to a black cat eared and tailed girl with piercing orange-yellow eyes and very sharp nails.

Next, I looked at the papers.

_Experiment: 29_

_Name: Katanya Alastaire_

_D.O.B: 06/23/1999_

_Race: African-Arabian_

_Languages spoken: English, Italian, Portuguese_

_Eye color: brown_

_Hair color: Black_

Abilities: heightened hearing, flexibility, night vision

I found the paper on my family tree.

_Family_

_Amaka Turay-Alastaire_

_Relationship: Mother_

_Race: African (Kenyan)_

_Status: alive_

_Location: Unknown_

_Kyla Salina Alastaire_

_Relationship: Sister (Younger)_

_Race: African-Arabian_

_Status: alive_

_History: _

_Born in Cape Town, South Africa. Moved to various places due to parents occupations. Captured in Rome, Italy on May 2, 2006 along with sister. Tested with feline DNA. Trained alongside Ex. 28. _

After reading through the rest of the information in the folder, I found a plain silver CD with my real name on it between two pages. I set the folder back down on the table, twirling the CD on my finger. Snowflower was still looking through hers, and Chauncey finished before I did.

Barton looked back at me and Chauncey. "Well, are you satisfied about your history now?" Chauncey seemed pleased with what he found out about his past.

I still had a few more questions that went unanswered.

'Where was my mother now?'

'What was on the CD?'

And the most unnerving

_'Why is there no information on who my father was?'_

* * *

End of Chapter 6!

Sorry it took so long to put up. I've had to study for a lot of final exams coming up.

Thank you all for waiting so long!

"There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds." ~G.K. Chesterton


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